Timber Industry Report June 21 By Rick Sohn, Umpqua Coquille LLC US housing starts and permits recovered from record lows.  Logs have stopped their 8-month slide, and studs have stabilized.  This is good news, relatively speaking.  See the 3-year price comparisons for lumber, logs, housing starts, permits, and unsold home […]

Oregon Cattlemen Association Legislative Update 06-19-09 HB 3369: Funding for Umatilla water development projects. This legislation was originally intended to provide lottery bond financing for grants for water supply projects and to establish Agriculture and Community Water Supply Grant Funds with continuous appropriations to Water Resources Department for the grant […]

From Bureau of Land Management, VALE, OREGON- June 19, 2009. The Vale District, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), is urging users and neighbors of public lands to be aware of increasing fire danger. Heavy spring rains have produced abundant grasses. Even though the rains have continued in recent days, it […]

Oregon Farm Bureau Alert, Today, Senator Prozanski and Representative Holvey introduced a last minute attempt to ban the use of field burning as a management tool.  SB 985, which is actually a referral out to Oregon voters, would ban field burning, burning of stacks or piles and propane flaming of […]

By Dunn, Carney, Allen, Higgins & Tongue In an order issued late on June 15th, Oregon Federal District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty determined that environmental groups failed to show “that all grazing must cease” on certain allotments in the Malheur National Forest.  Reversing an order from 2008 that stopped grazing […]

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association: WASHINGTON (June 18, 2009) – The Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee passed S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA) out of committee today on a party-line vote, bringing the country one step closer to the largest federal land grab in our history. The […]

Whatever Happened to Responsible Journalism? By Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau I am a firm believer in freedom of the press as a vital part of our democracy. But with that freedom comes responsibility. Round-the-clock news services competing for ratings and, in the end, money, has turned press coverage […]

Recovery Act Funding to Create Clean Energy Jobs in Douglas, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, and Linn Counties From US Senator Ron Wyden, Washington D.C. – Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced today that the Department of Agriculture has awarded $11.85 million to five counties in Oregon to create clean energy […]

By Oregon Farm Bureau, The field burning ban bill moved out of the Natural Resources Ways and Means SubCommittee.  The bill was amended to preserve the tool for the Silverton hills, however it allows the Environmental Quality Commission to prohibit field burning by rule.  We are aware of some legislators […]

Agri-Business Council of Oregon: SALEM, Oregon—You would think a giant member of the carrot family would be something a rabbit would dream about, but Giant hogweed has few friends, and unfortunately, no natural enemies in Oregon. The Oregon Invasive Species Council June 2009 Invasive Species of the Month, featured online […]